Digital classifieds portal Junk Mail has experienced a 30 percent growth in mobile traffic since the launch of its responsive site six months ago, compared to the same period last year.

Fifty-two percent of traffic is from mobile devices and it has received 14% more ads in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015.

“A responsive site is an optimised gateway for mobile users because it provides the best possible user experience, no matter which device or browser they access it from,” says Felix Erken, Managing Director and Co-owner of Junk Mail Digital Media.

The digitalisation of business is inevitable and companies that resist the change, risk losing customers, revenue and even their reputation. Junk Mail was an early adopter of digitalisation when it took its business online in 1997. “Our continued investment in our digital platform is aimed at driving ease of use as well as cost effective placement solutions for traders and end users,” he says.

Junk Mail’s responsive site enables sellers to place ads in seconds instead of minutes and buyers enjoy a seamless browsing experience. Another advantage to sellers is that the site has produced a record volume of private leads since switching over to a responsive platform. “The response rate to placements has increased substantially thanks to the quality of ads we’re receiving and the ease with which buyers navigate the site,” says Erken.

Feedback from users that are classified as traders, in that they sell multiple goods and place bulk ads, has been encouraging. “These traders are enjoying the speed and agility with which they can place multiple ads,” he says.

Although Junk Mail’s feature phone user base is on the decrease due to the rapid adoption of smartphones locally, and the availability of low cost smartphones in the market, the site still caters to feature phone users. “The trading and buying power of feature phone customers shouldn’t be underestimated, their site experience is just different,” says Erken.

Online scammers are a major pain point for online classified sites and their users. “We knew that we had to implement robust measures to identify scammers quickly as they were going to attempt to take advantage of the new site. We were ready for them and the number of ad placements by scammers dropped considerably since the new measures were put in place,” he says.

The digitalisation of business is here to stay and companies have to continuously evolve their digital solutions to retain customers. “Classifieds businesses, like other online platforms, need to invest in their digital offerings to bring buyers and sellers together with ease and offer them the best online experience possible,” he concludes.